Open AccessVon Krahl Theatre revisiting Estonian cultural heritage
Author(s) -
Anneli Saro
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
sign systems studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.17
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1736-7409
pISSN - 1406-4243
DOI - 10.12697/sss.2005.33.2.08
Subject(s) - estonian , ideology , politics , cultural heritage , identity (music) , cultural identity , political science , face (sociological concept) , state (computer science) , latvian , sociology , gender studies , political economy , social science , aesthetics , law , art , philosophy , negotiation , linguistics , algorithm , computer science
In the 1990s Estonia underwent a process of radical socio-political changes: a periphery of the Soviet conglomerate became a country with an independent political and economic life. The new situation also brought about a revision of cultural identity, which in the Soviet Union had been grounded primarily on the dichotomy between national and Soviet culture. Since these oppositions were rendered unimportant with the changed politico-economic conditions, a time of ideological vacuum followed. Estonia as an independent state and a cultural island between the East and the West turned its face toward Europe, questioning for its new or true identity in the postmodernising and globalizing society. In this article three productions of Estonian theatre as examples of identity construction will be analysed, investigating the rewriting of cultural heritage, intercultural relationships and implicit ideologies.